1 744 would be insanely expensive to base at MAN, crew would have to be positioned from London, or a new base set up. The point i was making earlier is if there really was demand for those routes (at sustainable fares) then they would be better operated by a carrier based in HKG, PEK or PVG. BA serves several places in the world that have no home based carrier flying direct long haul services, purely because there is insufficient point to point demand but you can fill a 744 from say PHX or BLR with transfers onto other BA flights. Ie its not PHX-LHR that makes the cash its PHX - CDG/AMS/DXB/DEL etc etc. A MAN - PEK would be just that, where would you find 337 pax a day for that?